On Thursday, June 3rd, shots were fired at one of Vice-President Sanchez-Ceren’s cars. Though initial reports claimed that the Vice-President’s wife and granddaughter were in the car at the moment of the attack, on Friday the Vice-President stated that only the driver, who also serves as his granddaughter’s bodyguard, was in the car.CISPES will continue to monitor this investigation. Below and article in the Diario CoLatino.

Colatino Article: "Attempt to rob Vice President's security vehicle"

A Personal Protection agent assigned to the Vice-President of the Republic, Salvador Sánchez Cerén, suffered an attempted armed car robbery, according to agents of the Central La Libertad unit of the National Civilian Police (PNC).

The act took place mid-day on Thursday, when the Personal Protection agent, José Ovidio Palacios, was driving on El Jabalí Street in the neighborhood of Santa Teresa in Merliot City, Santa Tecla.

Vice-President Salvador Sanchez Cerén denied reports [that his wife andgranddaughter were traveling in the car] and clarified that only the assigned security agent was in the car at the moment of the gun shots.

“This is my family’s vehicle, the one that my wife uses for her personal business,” he added.  

The head of the police unit in La Libertad, Chief Inspector Miguel Ángel Guerrero, said that there are suspects who shot at the agent. The police carried out a preliminary search minutes after the confrontation and captured one of the suspects, who had been checked into the public hospital by another person.

Guerrero said the detained suspect had been interrogated and assured them that he did not have personal problems with the agent who was attacked and that shooting was part of an attempted robbery of the 4 x 4 pickup.

The police have already identified the vehicle in which the assailants fled; however that information was not made public so as not to obstruct the investigation.

Sánchez Cerén did not want to qualify the act as a murder attempt and asked thepolice to determine the origin of the crime through their investigations.

However, he expressed worry that there have been previous robberies in this area, pointing out that though radio patrols are constantly circulating in order to provide security for the neighbors, this act occurred five minutes before the patrol.

“This is the family car; presumably the criminals knew its movements, because thishappened five minutes before the patrol was to pass by. There is also asecurity guard for this residential area and they knew what time he was eating lunch, because it was at this moment that they made their attempt,” he clarified.